Tests on the most common type of influenza found in Chinese pigs reveal that it has the potential to transmit easily in humans, posing a pandemic threat similar to the virus that triggered a pandemic in 2009 after jumping ...

In clinical trials, several candidate H7N9 pandemic influenza vaccines made from inactivated viruses have been shown to be safe and to generate an immune response. However, scientists believe for practical use, these potential ...

Influenza pandemics are potentially the most serious natural catastrophes that affect the human population. New findings published in PLOS Computational Biology suggest that with both timely and accurate data and sophisticated ...

Scientists studying the 2009 A/H1N1 influenza pandemic have found that the inconsistent regional timing of pandemic waves in Mexico was the result of interactions between school breaks and regional variations in humidity.

Lack of appropriate drugs and vaccines during the influenza A virus pandemic in 2009, the recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa, as well as the ongoing Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus outbreak demonstrates ...

New strains of the human pathogen responsible for African sleeping sickness can arise by swapping genes between human and animal variants of the parasite, new research from the University of Bristol has found.

Health professionals are urging pandemic planning be prioritised for remote Aboriginal communities following the confirmation and analysis of an outbreak of the pandemic H1N1 "swine flu" virus in WA in 2013.

Pandemic

A pandemic (from Greek πᾶν pan "all" + δῆμος demos "people") is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region; for instance a continent, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic. Further, flu pandemics exclude seasonal flu. Throughout history there have been a number of pandemics, such as smallpox and tuberculosis. More recent pandemics include the HIV pandemic and the 2009 flu pandemic.